Our Last Christmas Gift

Late Saturday night we checked our email and found our last Christmas present. The senior couple in Adam's city sent us an email. It took us to their blog where they had a video of Adam and the three other missionaries in the city of Tomsk. It is the four missionaries singing on Christmas Eve. It was a great surprise for us and if you are interested you can go to the blog and enjoy it too! http://2for24bowdens.blogspot.com

From Adam

Adam sent us the following picture. We all agreed it was worth posting. Warning...it IS from Adam, and it is Adam's view. Here were the questions he asked before we saw the picture...

"A REAL sign in Tallinn, Estonia. Two questions
1. How long did it take them to decide a sign needed to be made?
2. Did they have to special order or is this a regular sign?"

That being said, here is the picture.

The "W" in Christmas

Here is a great Christmas story! I found it in my email, and I thought it was worth sharing!
Each December, I vow to make Christmas a calm and peaceful experience. I had cut back on nonessential obligations - extensive card writing, endless baking, decorating, and even overspending… Yet still, I found myself exhausted, unable to appreciate the precious family moments, and of course, the true meaning of Christmas.. My son, Nicholas, was in kindergarten that year. It was an exciting season for a six year old. For weeks, he'd been memorizing songs for his school’s "Winter Pageant". I didn't have the heart to tell him I'd be working the night of the production, unwilling to miss his shining moment, I spoke with his Teacher, she assured me there'd be a dress rehearsal the morning of the presentation. All parents unable to attend that evening were welcome to come then. Fortunately, Nicholas seemed happy with the compromise.So, the morning of the dress rehearsal, I filed in ten minutes early, found a spot on the cafeteria floor and sat down. Around the room I saw several other parents quietly scampering to their seats. As I waited, the students were led into the room. Each class, accompanied by their teacher, sat cross-legged on the floor. Then, each group, one by one, rose to perform their song. Because the public school system had long stopped referring to the holiday as "Christmas," I didn't expect anything other than fun, commercial entertainment songs of reindeer, Santa Claus, snowflakes and good cheer. So, when my son's class rose to sing, "Christmas Love," I was slightly taken aback by its bold title.Nicholas was aglow, as were all of his classmates, adorned in fuzzy mittens, red sweaters, with bright snowcaps upon their heads. Those in the front row- center stage - held up large letters, one by one, to spell out the title of the song. As the class would sing "C is for Christmas," a child would hold up the letter C. Then, "H is for Happy," and on and on, until child holding up his portion had presented the complete message, "C h r i s t m a s L o v e." The performance was going smoothly, until suddenly, we noticed her; a small, quiet, girl in the front row holding the letter "M” upside down - totally unaware her letter "M" appeared as a “W". The audience of 1st through 6th graders snickered at this little one's mistake. But she had no idea they were laughing at her, so she stood tall, proudly holding her "W". Although many teachers tried to shush the children, the laughter continued until the last letter was raised, and we all saw it together. A hush came over the audience and eyes began to widen. In that instant, we understood the reason we were there, why we celebrated the holiday in the first place, why even in the chaos, there was a purpose for our festivities. For when the last letter was held high, the message read loud and clear:
"C H R I S T W A S L O V E"
And, I believe, He still is. I am amazed in His presence... humbled by His love. HAVE A BLESSED HOLIDAY SEASON!

Blogging Jello!

Blogging has not made it to the top of my to do list for quite awhile! I have had a few minutes to read others, but not to post one of my own. However, I decided to try a layered jello for dinner the other night. Making the jello took longer than making the previous three meals, but it did turn out pretty cool, don't you think?? I figured that something that took that long needed to be admired so where better to share it than on my blog!

O Christmas Tree, MORE Christmas Trees!

No this tree isn't in my house! This was our second year of decorating a tree for the Festival of Trees. The Festival is a fund raiser for Primary Children's Hospital. We donate and decorate the tree and someone buys it and all the money goes to the hospital. We spent all day Monday decorating our tree. It was so fun to be together and work on this project. Since almost all my blog readers were at the festival with me, I am blogging just to be the first one to do it! I Win!! Now I will be late to meet you for tonight, but hey, I wanted to be first! :) Seriously, it is a fun project to all work on together...many hands make light work! Ok, Jessica did most of the work, but hey, she couldn't have done it without us! Thanks for the fun day! Love you guys (girls!)

Even Jocelyn came to help!

Work, Talk, talk, talk, oh yeah, work...

The finished product..."Visions of Sugarplums"

Aisle G-20 if you go to the Festival!